


Good intentions

by Katyahina



Category: Kirby (Video Games), Kirby - All Media Types
Genre: Feels, Gen, bye ao3, hi ao3, if it wasn't for Natsuki I'd never accept my simplistic writing style, look mum I can write, probably the only fanfic I am going to post online
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 23:19:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17837942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katyahina/pseuds/Katyahina
Summary: One day, the strange being arrives in Elline's homeland. What is even more interesting, the strange being appears to be of the menacing Dark Matter species. Will Elline's kindness and good attitude be able to change it's evil nature?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prequel fanfic to The Rainbow curse, pretty much.. English isn't my native language, so some grammar mistakes may occur. I accept constructive criticism, so if you've got something to say - please do so!

“Today we’ve found an unusual blob of something dark!  
I wonder if it bites?”  
_____________________________________________________  
Before clasping it closed, Elline takes one final look in her diary, where, under the text above, can be seen her own drawing depicting herself, a few other fairies and a black orb with one angry eye in the center of it. This incident by now has drawn the attention of everyone living in the Spectrum Village towards itself, and she is not an exception. She is unsure of how to feel about it. Scared? But the mysterious creature wasn’t really that big or menacing, although, admittedly, looking far from friendly. Excited? Far from it, because _if_ it appears to be dangerous she doesn’t want to lose the calm life she has here. Let’s stop at the usual curiosity.

She takes diary and leaves her little treehouse located on the blooming cherry tree, it is wooden and colored sky blue in the contrast to the flowers around. Some cartoonish clouds are painted on it too with rainbows arching through them. This is such Elline’s thing to do.

She flies to where other fairies of the village have flocked to in order to make their judgment about unasked guest. Had it been anyone else – they would’ve still gotten in trouble for even stepping on this practically divine place’s lands. But it was a ‘scary’ looking creature of the unknown origins, which made things worse. And this pitch black color… Call it prejudice that exists among spectrum fairies, but pure black color creates the sense of alertness amongst them. Vibrant colors are their life substance, an ability every spectrum fairy carries – pitch black color opposes it.

“Hey!” Elline waves her hand, seeing a friend, then catching up to her. “Has it spoken to anybody?”

“Not at all! Well… I think it maybe _tried_ to, but nobody was able to understand anything!” Iridia, a friend, responded. Iridia was a fairy with beautiful soft hair sparkling iridescent colors, with a hat resembling a glitter pen’s cap. Her wings look like triangles and flicker on the sun like pieces of glass. “But look, looks like Colorfall was able to figure out it can _growl_!”

“WOAH! Back off!” Colorfall demands angrily, retracting the tree branch she has previously poked at the creature (which is most certainly growling now).

Her hair is much like Elline’s, but instead of being the pastel rainbow palette, it is all colors of fall leaves: red, orange, yellow, green, brown, in betweens…

“Don’t provoke it and it won’t get mad…” Someone who has just dropped such a bright thought is Ecline, a fairy with crescent shaped wings and ponytail. The buttons on her dark blue dress follow as colors of lunar eclipse from white to red.

“Hey, I must know if it’s willing to cooperate!” Colorfall protests, not seeing how her statement caused Elline and a few others to roll their eyes.

“Would _you_ be willing to cooperate if someone poked a branch at you?” Ecline retorts, everything she says seems to be slow-paced and calm. “Let’s just wait what Starsplash is going to say…” Oh well, she yawns after finishing this sentence.

“Hmpf! It’s always Starsplash just because of what she is capable of!” Elline quietly grumbles in whisper to her friend, “If you ask me, the smartest person in the village is Pixelline, because she’s got computers and other smart things!”

“Well, if you ask me, the smartest person in the village is _you_!” Iridia giggles as she said this, leaving Elline in a slight confusion.

Fairies look at the mysterious dark creature and then at each other, whispering something and trailing off, worrying or joking, unaware that it can somewhat understand what is going on but will not talk, or at least move. It is in the position of a cornered wild animal, even though the corner is bushes with bright red berries hanging from them. Elline doesn’t take her eyes off it even longer than anyone else in the crowd. Why won’t it just flee, why it doesn’t try to attack further than defending itself from being directly provoked? Is it… by a chance, wounded?

At last, the fairy known as Starsplash arrives, along with Pixelline. Starsplash has an impressive mane of hair, striped with possible stars’ colors. Red, orange, yellow, white, blue... Whereas she seems to have less variety in colors than plenty of other fairies, she is said to be able to paint dead stars back to their burning life. Pixelline, on her own, is absolutely unique case: while most of the other fairies resemble paintbrushes, she carries resemblance with a tablet pen instead. Above her colorful mess of hair unevenly cut in different places, she wears a pair of dark visors.

The conversations and worrying around die down as fairies expect the verdict. Whoever has grown compassionate towards the guest would’ve found herself facing nothing good because Pixelline carries the Vibrancy Dryer – a weapon used to absorb colors from other things and even living creatures. Some are internally questioning if it would even be able to put up with this amount of black.

“Bad news.” Pixelline announces.

“We’ve noticed…” Someone from the crowd reacts.

“I’ve analyzed the collected data on this thing, searched mentions everywhere… We can conclude just one thing.”

“What is it? Don’t intrigue us!” Colorfall cuts, indignant at the slowness.

“It is a Dark Matter.”

Everyone gasps and floats slightly away from the two fairies and the source of disturbance, only Elline stays in the same position, unintentionally setting herself aside of everyone else. The surprise just caught up to her in a wrong way, shocking her motionless. _That_ Dark Matter? The Dark Matter which threatens entire civilizations? The Dark Matter which thrives off negative emotions? The Dark Matter which is said to be the most ancient evil present in the universe? In _her_ homeland?

Other fairies pause, staring at Elline a bit. Right now, she is the closest person to the creature. It is looking at her, she is looking at it. Respectively, it starts to move all of a sudden, crawling closer to her…

When the shockwave finally set loose, Elline screams. And not just screams – she dashes away and hides behind the tree, slowly followed by Iridia who wants to make sure she is okay. Colorfall lets out a slight giggle at the sight.

“Why is it here? Will more come?” The crowd started to audibly worry again.

“Not likely!” Pixelline responds, extracting a holographic screen from one of her bracelets to help a visualization nobody will understand anyway, “From the field surrounding it, it seems like it has arrived through Another Dimension,” mention of it sent another disturbed gasp through everyone present, “but we searched and weren’t able to find even a trace of the portal. It had probably closed. And look at this Dark Matter – it’s all alone and passive, isn’t attacking. Perhaps one of those crazed orbicular birds chewed it a bit on it’s way here, or something…”

“What are we going to do?”

“Destroy it.” Starsplash explains, “This is what the Vibrancy Dryer is here for. We will drain it out of color, then paint it into something safe…” She looks at the earth beneath her, “Say, like a rock.”

Everyone is quiet. Needless to say this death sounds terrible, well actually, _any_ death sounds terrible in the Spectrum Village as fairies barely ever have to kill anybody. Too bad there is no other choice… Is there?

Pixelline flies closer to the Dark Matter, gun-alike device is ready to take the color blacker than charcoal. Her movements are careful and cautious still even after she concluded that this creature- no, this _monster_ , won’t put up any resistance. However there is something to happen that would have her and everyone else shaken – suddenly, monster growls and it’s form distorts.

Within a few seconds it appears to, somewhat, imitate what Pixelline herself looks like, especially with how now there is a pair of shades above it’s eye. It looks like something _trying_ to be like a fairy, but still remaining a small and black cloud. However, now it has a couple of floating gloved hands. Maybe it was a strange self-defence, or maybe just a power of Dark Matter’s habit.

“Wow! I wasn’t ready!” Pixelline squeezes Vibrancy Dryer harder in her hands after having almost dropped it from a surprise, “It usually takes Dark Matters longer time to imitate someone… Incidents known among those who spent a long time with one... for whatever reason.”

“Hee hee, maybe it likes you~!” Iridia joked.

“I am not very flattered by such fast paced attention, then…” Pixelline responds to the joke, sighing at some fairies’ ridiculousness, then aiming the gun back at the Dark Matter – now in it’s new shape but still a defenseless one, still not even trying to run… _Why_ in the world isn’t it running? It is just watching, silently. Is it _ready_ to die?

“I won’t hesitate, b-”

“Wait… No.”

Everybody turns to the source of the voice, inquisitively. The source seems to come from behind the tree. Then, Elline peeks out shyly. She isn’t quite sure what motivated her to say it, but right in this moment it feels like a proper thing to do. To stop this mess. The way a helpless creature looked at her has already engraved itself in her consciousness.

“What do you mean ‘no’, Elline? I think they explained rather clearly…” The person speaking to her is Marline, a fairy of every marine color, bearing slight resemblance of a paint roller, “Dark Matter shouldn’t be here!”

“But… Listen!” Elline leaves her cover and is public again, in attempt to reach for everyone’s common sense, the way she sees it, “It’s all alone here, and no other Dark Matters will follow!.. It’s probably hurt, too! We don’t have to kill it, because it’s not dangerous!”

“Elline… What do you mean?” Starsplash asks, intrigued.

“I mean even though it’s scary… maybe, it can be left to live here!”

Whispering. Disturbed kind of whispering, all around.

“Great… Elline is at it again! Maybe you will marry your new friend?” The first one to talk directly about the ‘problem’ is Colorfall.

Elline’s eyes squint at it a little, but she will be okay with it. She tolerated this attitude from Colorfall over three hundred years, she can tolerate it some more. Right now, what matters the most for her is convincing two leaderheads to… what, exactly? To just let the Dark Matter exist?

“Colorfall, quiet.” Starsplash demands, “Elline… Let’s suppose that we allow this… _thing_ … to stay in the village. Where do you think it would live?”

Oh yes, the details. Something one does not think of when making a temerarious statement. However this is quite the progress she has made with just saying ‘no’ – they are now actually thinking about alternatives! Well, what about details, now, Elline tries to think very hard for a moment, but the solution reveals itself to be completely obvious.

“In my house!”

Other fairies are bewildered about why would anyone want to go through such a trouble for a creature of clearly hostile nature. Colorfall is the one to make a nervous laugher about it – she may be against Elline’s ideas with all her heart, but right now she is worried about her too.

“Elline, are you sure you want to bother?..” Ecline flies closer.

“Well, yes!” Elline feels more bravery to come as she speaks, oh my, they actually are listening, aren’t they? She just can’t miss this opportunity! “I don’t want us all to turn into some meanies who kill a defenseless creature… I know you all my life, guys… You aren’t like that, really? But right now you scare me a little…”

These words hover in the minds and touch the hearts of most of the fairies around here. Whoever wasn’t touched by this heartfelt assertion would have gone with the majority’s opinion for not having their own anyways. It seems to have touched even the Dark Matter creature itself, as it quivers in the air, slightly awkwardly in it’s surprise.

“Well…” Pixelline lowers the device she is holding, “Urrrgh. You aren’t wrong, it _seems_ to be pretty helpless. But just to your information, I have a bad feeling about it.”

“W-wait!” Colorfall sounds worried, “So we will just let her have it as a pet?! Come on! Don’t you know what Dark Matter does?”

“Yes we do – when it’s in colonies, or at least is strong enough to possess someone…” Starsplash responds, “Elline may be right. We are better than this.”  
Elline smiles, not quite realizing it yet. It is a good feeling, a feeling of some terrible disaster being prevented. A feeling of having some actual influence on the events that happen around her.

“I will take good care of it!” Delighted, Elline declares, and to further establish her declaration, she flies nearby and grabs Dark Matter by its newly created hand, shocking everyone around once again. She mentally notes the hand of a Dark Matter does not feel hot or cold like someone else’s hand should have.

The worry, the feeling of confronting everyone and having won somehow, are overwhelming for the time being for her metaphorical heart. “Thank you all, guys!” She smiles, overjoyed by the crowd allowing her the chance to do what is right. To have a new friend. To replace the stress she’s been through, the fantasies about doing many fun things together and possibly fixing Dark Matter into being someone kinder start to dilate in her mind. She’s always been a friendly, optimistic fairy.  
“You… welcome?” Pixelline shifts on her place insecurely. “But we are taking Vibrancy Dryer nowhere far just yet!”

“Her concern is still fair, Elline.” Starsplash explains, “Promice that if it ends up giving you a single reason to worry – you will tell us. This is a risk for you, but not you alone.”

“Yeah, can you keep us updated on what’s happening?”

“Don’t worry about it!” Iridia interferes, “I am sure that Elline will make an absolute friend even from the creature like this! Don’t you guys know Elline is a ball of sunshine~?”

This statement doesn’t seem to evoke any disagreement at all – some nod genuinely in approval, others sigh in their ‘oh-tell-me-about-that’ manner. Elline looks down and away, flattered.

“I g-guess I need to show it it’s new house…So… Uh, bye?”

Many pairs of eyes follow Elline as she flies away with her new ‘friend’, some of them are still worried.  
_____________________________________________________  
Dark Matter felt it practically the same instance Elline touched it.

Poweful? Very.

After it’s shock it is yet to realize what is going on around to the full extent, but right now it understands one thing – it has been shielded from inevitable demise by someone very strong. The fairy that holds it’s hand right now has every rainbow color in her hair, meaning she can draw anything if she puts her mind to it. Dark Matter thinks it begins to grasp what is the deal with these colorful fairies. Their colors are supposed to be their opportunities. Quite a fast one to connect the dots, isn’t it?

And it has gotten the sympathy of the most colorful one, somehow! Now it needs to keep it. How? Well, maybe just by acting quiet… Until the right time comes.


	2. Chapter 2

“Today my friend crafted a nice nesting box, and I painted it in pretty colors!  
He also asked me to call him Crafter from now on.”  
_____________________________________________________  
Elline sits nearby the friend on the bed as she is making finishing strokes to today’s diary entry. Friend is completely allowed to see her creative process as her diary is not a secret to him.

Two weeks have passed since Dark Matter, now apparently known as Crafter, started living in her little but cozy house. Several major things changed since then: new friend deciding to gender himself, him obtaining plenty of the language spoken in this place and, last but not least, him growing much closer with Elline. Iridia would lightheartedly make jokes about being ‘replaced’. Together, they even made another floor in Elline’s house so Crafter would have had his personal space! Although, he still preferred to sleep in one room with Elline.

At times during this period, Elline would feel like she was talking to a child – having to explain him simple things such as ‘friendship’, ‘promise’ or ‘courtesy’. Other times, it was Dark Matter who felt to be older – from all those strange yet fascinating things he would tell her about travelling through space.

“Now, let’s make your profile! Like one of these!” She shifts through her diary and stops at the page with the doodle of Colorfall, some autumn leaves are drawn falling by right and left. The next page is saying fairy’s name, that her personality is a bully, that she was most likely born at the fall and that her job was to poke fun of everyone. Very excellent.

But this is just an example, right? There are several other profiles in her diary, much more optimistic ones! And right now she is hoping she is about to make just another one like this.

“Allright, at first, let’s just draw you…”

Rare occasion – her having to use black paint. She has to take a minute or two searching in the drawer for it, and it almost surprises her that she actually has some in a small jar. Probably, used it once or twice to draw thunderclouds. She takes another brush and some white paint too – to draw Crafter’s eye.

The process goes in the complete silence, but both are comfortable with it – they’d talked the whole day and might use a little break, after all. It doesn’t take Elline much time to complete this picture, although she honestly tried her best, like with any other drawing she’d make. Her art style is simplistic, mostly what is expected from children or just beginners, but drawing makes Elline such a happy person, so why would that be concerning? With the drawing done, Elline moves onto the next page, writing: ‘Name: Crafter’.

“Hmmm…” The ‘personality’ field makes her ponder for a bit, she pauses. She wouldn’t ask him what to make of his personality, of course not. She’d known him for two weeks, it was about time to figure out herself!

A few more seconds pass before she fills this one – by writing ‘quiet and complicated’ in it. This doesn’t cover half the traits a more mature person would’ve highlighted about Crafter during quite a tight interaction period, traits like him being creative – just like her, or moody, but Elline is simple as she is. _Complicated_. This was more the way Crafter feels for her than really the way he is, since he doesn’t say all that much.

“Allright, we’re almost done! When is your birthday?” Elline inquires. The answer is going to have her puzzled.

“Dark matters are as old as the universe is.”

“…Oh. How old the universe is? Is it, like…” She recalls the biggest number she can, Pixelline said it once, “-five thousands years or so?”

Crafter’s eye opens wider for a split second in genuine amaze at this ignorance. He never laughed in his life, so right now he doesn’t know what is this strange sensation filling him and asking to break free. Therefore, he ends up not laughing, but stars, he would if he could.

“Yes, you can say so…” He replies dryly.

“Okay, I will just write it here… ‘Very very long time ago’.” After finishing the birthday field, only one remains, but Elline can’t leave such an interesting subject aside. “You know, I am rather old myself! I am about four hundreds years or so! To be honest, I’ve stopped counting, hehehe…But other fairies are just as old, so we are even!”

If Spectrum Village’s population is all there is of spectrum fairies, then this species is really young, Crafter concludes. Either that, or the whole place is a bunch of lost children left to fend for themselves. He’d never encountered a species that was so remotely young, it provokes his curiosity a little bit.

“Were there ever fairies older than this?” He asks.

“Not at all! We all were created by the same person! …I didn’t tell you very much about who we _are_ , did I?”

There never was the need to, though: whenever the destiny would bring a not-fairy into their quiet place, that person would’ve been banished before making any connections here. It’s the first time someone stays. And probably the first time to share this story. For this occasion, Elline puts the diary slightly away, placing paintbrush on it carefully so its tip wouldn’t touch the pages.

“Okay, then listen… This happened a really long time ago, so nobody probably remembers the detail, but once there lived a person who loved art more than anything else in the world! Just like me!” She giggles, “She was going by the name Inspioris, and she would draw with her unusual magical paintbrush all days long. From what I remember, her hair were long and all colors of rainbow – again, just like me! You know, I never noticed how many coincidences there were… Wow…”

Although it seems like Elline will be sidetracking a lot during the story, it already interests Dark Matter enough to not just sit through it, but to listen. He can partially relate to being created by a ‘supreme’ being, as well.

“Anyways, her paintbrush was all pretty colors and able to draw incredible things! But it was not enough for her to just draw art all by herself. Speaking of her art, she could draw really obscure things! For example, she heard that sad story about two sisters separated at birth and then drew the way she imagined them to be! Those were pretty portraits, she had a good imagination!

But like I said, that was not enough for her… She loved art itself so much that she wanted all her drawing utensils to have a life on their own! So she turned to the help of a magical spring that had a water of every color to turn us all alive! We all used to be her brushes, some were paint rollers, some were pencils, and some were glitter pens! And she tried her best to give us all identity, too! At least, this is what she told us…”

Mentioning identity makes Crafter zone out. Dark Matters were to gain identity only after interacting with someone and adopting their traits on their own. Basically, copycats. And he sure has identity now, no longer being a ball of charcoal black energy, but… is copying someone’s appearance really can be called ‘identity’? He would draw and craft within the span of two weeks now, sure, with the help of his new friend. Or was he still nothing without the colony? Being torn apart from others might not be that good experience after all, it might call for existential crisis.

Crafter snaps back into reality, realizing he wasn’t listening. Too bad he had to dive deep into his own thoughts now of all times, when Elline’s rambling was actually interesting for him.

“…She wanted us to spread her love to art through creating art by ourselves! And this is what we were doing so far! I think the only drawing utensil she never turned alive was her favorite magical paintbrush, but that was just so she could still create paintings and stuff by herself… She lived here, right in this village for some time, too! But her love for art started to turn into despair, and one day she realized that she, herself, wanted to _become_ an art… After that, she was gone one day, and we still don’t know where.”

Elline’s voice falls at the end of the story. These were memories long forgotten, and she regrets she can’t recall anything else. There are bits of images in her memory but ones she wouldn’t be able to grasp and verbalize.

It is usually Elline who interrupts the awkward silence, but this time, it is Crafter.

“I am… sorry that you lost connections with your creator.”

“Thank you!” She gives a slight smile, though Crafter doesn’t realize why, “After that, Starsplash has taken the lead as self-proclaimed ‘most wise one’! She also says she was turned alive before us all, but I honestly don’t remember seeing anyone else when I woke up?”

Crafter is once again taken aback by how naive Elline can be. From what she just said, _she_ is probably the first creation of that intricate artsy person…

“When I woke up I was surrounded by those of my kind.” Crafter points out, “We also have a creator… Except we know for sure they are alive and well. They would like your kind.”

Crafter feels something akin of attachment to Zero, even more so than to his entire way too big ‘siblingshood’. Zero always wanted the best life for their Dark Matters and wanted to live in unity with every species, especially the cute ones. It just so happened that their fuel has always been negative energy. It also just so happened that Zero was born without the personal boundaries concept, which passed to his creations.

“What does your creator look like?”

“Big… and white. With one red eye.”

“Seems like an easy one to draw! I should try it later! And we gotten stuck at your job…” Elline takes paintbrush in her hand again, placing the diary close. “What would you say is your job?”

“Dark Matter’s job is to spread itself through possessing other living beings and feeding off their negative energy.”

“Aww, don’t be so edgy! There might be something more… But I can’t just write ‘crafter’, because that’s your name already! …I got it! I will write ‘crafting things’!” And that she does, which is the end of the new friend profile page. She now just briefly decorates it with simply drawn five pointed stars, because Crafter travelled through stars.

At this point, Dark Matter isn’t afraid to say such things to Elline. She is so oblivious and optimistic sometimes that it’s kind of funny to try and see how far he can get in his confessions before she gets scared, which she usually does not. However, this one is not even a secret – Pixelline and Starsplash already revealed what Dark Matters do.

“I say that’s enough of drawing and writing and crafting for one day… No need to push the creativity genius to the limit!” Elline says, closing her diary after the paint has dried and looking at Crafter, “What do you think?”

“I wouldn’t mind making something else…” His eye, almost permanently looking like a frown, stares on Elline with a slight hint of hope in it. “Will you teach me?”

“Hmmm… Of course!” She nods in approval.

“How much time do you need to rest?”

It is obvious he wants to have some creative fun today, unwilling to wait for long. One of Elline’s eyebrows quirks up in amazement.

“Dude, you want to know a _lot_ …” She puts the free hand against her forehead – a gesture of exhaustion Crafter’s lowered-empathy gaze is blind to. If anyone in Spectrum Village knew that there is a creature who was able to make her, Elline, feel too tired to create something, they would have lost it at the surprise. 

“Like I said – until tomorrow!” She comments with a smile.

Awkward moment of silence hovers in the air again until Elline breaks it. She throws herself on the bed, colorful head hitting the light green pillow.

“You know, eventually you will have to befriend other fairies too… If you just stay with me – you will get bored!”

“Other fairies wanted my death.” Crafter replies, sitting near and burrowing the wall with his single eye.

“I am sure they are chill now! It’s been two weeks! Listen… They can teach you many interesting things, too! Marline knows _everything_ about the sea and sea creatures, she showed me what starfish and corals were! She will show you too, if you ask nicely! Ecline knows everything about satellites like Bleach Crescent – that’s a big thing in the skies you see here at nights! She says if she manages to paint it into a full circle – the nights will be brighter and prettier! Colorfall… We don’t really talk all that much, but she knows a lot of biological stuff, like plants! There is also Berryline, an excellent cook…”

Crafter is only half-listening to Elline excitingly rambling and rambling about her fairy buddies. Dear, this fairy is definitely chatty when it comes to the people she knows. She is just laying here, going on about these other people’s talents, plans, personalities. Why not to just listen to Elline? Maybe one of them will appear to be interesting enough to interact with?

But Crafter knows they won’t, though. The only other fairy that seems to carry at least remote interest for him is Pixelline, because he copied her while being scared. And this is a rather bitter attachment.

Why not to just listen to Elline? Mostly, because he already found his friend among this species whom he is planning to stick with. Elline would teach him how to draw, would share secrets with him. Elline would protect him if things went awry again. He is not entirely sure why he should expand his social circle if everything is already here, within one person. The only thing she can’t give him is healing; if he possesses her and tries to escape – the other fairies will easily track down and deal with him. Yet another thing he learned by asking ‘silly’ questions at the right times.

Besides, other fairies might be less naive and notice that the way he behaves with Elline isn’t always right… Dark Matters would thrive of negative energy, and he was no exception. At times, he would enable Elline’s negative emotions. And things like this are better left unnoticed by others.

“Elline… Don’t.” He cuts her off abruptly.

Fairy is phased by this, she blinks in confusion from what she just heard. And in the instance, she forgot what she was going to say next.

“What do you mean by this?.. I mean it, other fairies won’t mind you anymore! At least, not Iridia – I know her well!”

“I am already comfortable with you alone.”

Oh well. Is he? Oh great. Elline has a sweet positive imagery in her head about her friends – _all_ of her friends – getting along together, and she doesn’t want it to be ruined. But what she thinks would be the best for Crafter isn’t going to happen, is it? Or maybe she is just being whimsical about not getting things to be her way. She isn’t analyzing her feelings right now, whether they are altruistic or selfish, she is just getting frustrated quickly.

“Oh come on… You don’t know what you are going to miss! I just want you to look outside of our house for once!” She is pleading, still sure that she will be able to convince him.

“We’ve been outside plenty of time.” Crafter retorts.

“You _know_ what I mean!.. It’s going to be okay!” Oh dear, she grabs him by the hand with her two. “Come on, right now, I will introduce you to her!”

“I already have a friend!” He retracts his hand from Elline almost angrily, having not expected her to go this rush.

Elline’s eyes shoot from side to side while she is desperately searching for a right thing to say, as if it could be written somewhere on the walls. All she can do at this point is just keep being insistent, just be stubborn, and she doesn’t like it. She likes it when people agree with her. She is not able to empathize with a less communicative person, too. Maybe though, it’s to the better, since Dark Matter has his own inferior motives for sticking with Elline and Elline alone. _Who_ is doing the wrong thing here anymore?

“I… I don’t know what else to say! Uh…” She admits.

“Then don’t.”

“Can’t you do this little thing for me though? Consider it as, well, return favor for saving you, or something like that?” She is desperate.

“I never asked to be saved at the first place. Don’t you remember how I was ready to let them shoot me?”

This kind of… hurts Elline to hear. She remembers the day very well, it would concern her late before sleep almost every day. And the feeling of pity she felt that time is welling up in her chest again right now. Together with the fact that he pulls the ‘not asked to be saved’ card, it undoes Elline’s spirits and she finds herself about to start crying – to the possible Crafter’s internal contentment.

“Of course I do!” She is trying to swallow tears back, but her eyes are already wet enough for the surroundings to turn into a haze. “Don’t _EVER_ say such a thing again! You _understood_?” In emphasizing the ‘ever’ part, she balls her hands into fists.

“I… Yes. Of course.” He hovers in place, not even a movement as reaction to Elline’s outburst, however something feels terribly wrong. He consumes her negative emotions, but part of it being knowing _what_ said emotion is, and right now he has to face the fact that Elline is actually worried because of what he said. That someone cares about him…

“And… And what sets me apart from other fairies, anyways? Besides saving you and becoming friends..?” Elline rubs her now completely wet eyes, not willing to cry at all but unable to help herself now.

It’s what she can give to him. He knows she is specifically naive.

“I don’t know!” He is disturbed now, flying slightly back from her. “I can’t explain it!” Yes he can.

“Trust me, they are just as capable of being friends as I am… Why you can’t open up to others a bit?”

She’d wiped her tears by now, only sobbing slightly. But now it seems like Crafter wants to cry. This is not like usual times – not like when Elline is sad because of Colorfall, not like when she is scared of who lives in the darkness. Her feelings – which became partially his feelings because of consumption – are so very _confusing_.

“Maybe it’s because I am Dark Matter… I am only capable of doing bad things. You should know by now.”

“Stop! Don’t! Say so!” Elline’s round wings flutter faster as she flies right to her friend, slightly beating her fist against his cloudlike body. She is not good with this kind of things, but she doesn’t like it when friends begin to beat themselves over. She just wants it to stop, although she doesn’t know how. She just wants him to _stop_.

“…Maybe you could change me with your paint?” He explains, as Elline gives him confusing look, “You are able to turn things into something completely different when you paint over them… What if it can work on me too?”

Now, what he is doing? Not even Crafter himself is sure. Is he offering her to make him be _not_ a Dark Matter anymore? The hell with it, he stays here and is not going back home anyways, so he might give it a shot. Maybe if he is painted into something different – he will see what he can’t see yet. Maybe he will see what is there besides parasiting off one person unlucky enough to give a damn about him.

“I… I can try… Are you sure that you want it?”

“I am not sure about anything. But proceed.”

Spectrum fairies’ magic was very resourceful and unique on it’s own. Elline heard from other fairies that there was a mirror world, with reflection of everyone who lives in this world, and that if a specter fairy paints someone into their mirror world’s counterpart’s colors – their _personality_ can change respectively. After what Crafter is offering, she can already see that she might have to change ‘quiet and complicated’ thing later on, but who knows if it will even work on someone so black.

Elline chooses to cooperate with this decision. She turns into her paintbrush form instantly and paints over Crafter several times – giving him all colors she can think of. Red, green, blue, yellow, orange, purple… Only the brightest colors, so the change might happen. As she is back to her fairy form, she faces an absolute mess of colors that just moment ago was dark.

“How… How are you feeling after this?” She inquires carefully, not knowing what she did quite yet.

Full. Complete. Adequate. Happy?.. There are many words to describe this sensation, but apparently the change had improved him. It felt like having gathered tears and misery of an entire town, only a little bit better.

“It feels nice. I think something changed.”

“Maybe…” Elline lets out a brief laugher, “Maybe they are right about pitch black being a ‘baaaad’ color, after all…”

“Elline. Can you do this again?..”  
_____________________________________________________  
Offering Elline to paint him was probably his very best idea so far. He didn’t even realize that he was able to feel this good, although he couldn’t express it very well – even his eye is still frowning. The moment magical paint touched him he felt as though he was healed from all pain. But at the same moment he felt something else.  
The paint, eventually, would wash out. No matter how many – but it would wash out and he would turn into his regular self back again. Dark Matter energy was too strong, the pitch blackness was slowly swallowing the colorful strokes of paint once it was daubed against his body. Therefore, he needed more of paint. More of colors.

Maybe even more than one fairy could give him.


	3. Chapter 3

“I don’t feel like going home today, so I’ve been sitting under the tree.  
A few squirrels were keeping me company!”  
_____________________________________________________  
Elline stops writing, gazing at the doodle she made – the doodle of her sitting amongst squirrels near the biggest pine tree their small country had. She is rather pleased with the result, but not as much with her state. The truth is, lately she has been avoiding coming back home.

During recent times, Crafter became more than clingy. He’s now somewhat… _obsessed_? Elline has to face the fact that she eventually needs to come home sometime after all, which brings her massive discomfort. How came that her friend became a _burden_ for her? She thinks deep on the matter, as squirrels play and scurry around. One of them distracts her by hopping onto her diary and looking into her face curiously – Elline can’t help but looks back, sighing.

“Little squirrel… Somehow right now I would rather talk to you than to him… I don’t know what to do.” Elline vents a little to her wordless companion, bringing her hand closer to it. Someways, it understands her hint and jumps in Elline’s arms. To further de-stress, Elline pets it lightly with another hand, humming to herself.

Then, she suddenly can’t see. She only feels slightly cool touch of the hands over her eyes and lets the squirrel slip from her.

“Iridia, is this you?”

This guess grants her with the ability to see again, apparently. Elline turns back to face her friend who had so abruptly interfered with her emotional moment. Iridia’s hands gave her a chill, but her smile is warm.

“It’s a rare one to catch you alone… Usually, you spend time with your new friend, hehe!” Iridia chimes in. Great, she is about it as well…

“Well…” Elline wants to say something but hesitates. She goes with a more neutral reply, but instantly feels uneasy about it. “We decided to play each on our own for today.”

Did that sound good enough? She can’t be sure.

“So, you can’t give me a little time? Aww…” Iridia is jokingly upset, she is still smiling her kindest smile.

“I don’t know…” Elline admits, unexpectedly even for herself. So, here she goes and opens up to her friend.

“Elline…” Iridia’s expression never changes but internally she feels as though something is wrong. “It’s okay, I am just kidding with you! Needing some alone time is completely understandable!”

“But I don’t want to be alone! I want to be with my friends more often… Now, more than ever!” Elline bursts out, unable to contain this anxiety any longer. She doesn’t know what she is saying, why she is saying it, but she knows pretending would become unbearable within a moment. The little rainbow fairy sees a friendly gesture from Iridia – her floating hands spreading wide, and shifts in for a hug.

“Shhhh, it’s okay, pal, I am here… We can call the others over to my house and have fun all together if you want!” There is a reason Iridia offers her house rather than Elline’s – she already suspects that the problem might be her Dark Matter buddy. However, nothing is secure just yet. “I will draw more of those white puzzles nobody can solve, and everyone but Colorfall is invited! Hehehe!” She pats Elline on the back lightly, but what Elline doesn’t see is that Iridia frowned once she stopped laughing.

“If I stay over for a long time – Crafter will get worried, and I don’t want to deal with that…” Elline whines, not containing herself that much anymore. Hugs have always been a reliable way to get Elline to talk more than frank conversations. But also, this more than enough confirms Iridia’s guess. She is nowhere near naive, she can tell where this all is going. She lets go off the distressed friend and looks into her eyes.

“Hey, you know what… If you don’t know what to say – leave it to me! Let’s go into your house, and I myself will explain Crafter that you want to spend some more time apart! You know me, I am good at talking with people!”

Had it been for Iridia following her heart, she would have given a verbal smackdown on the Dark Matter for making her friend feel this disturbed. She was willing to refrain from crumbling Elline’s faith in her friendships towards all people though, therefore she really did intend to just have a small, calm talk.

“Really?.. You will help?” Elline asks, full of hope for once. Why has she never told someone about her worries before?

“Of course! How can I leave you like this? You clearly need a slumber party therapy – and not think about all this! Now, let’s get going!”

While they were talking, one of the squirrels would start browsing through Elline’s diary with it’s paw, looking at the pictures. Elline retracts it from the cute little being and closes it, then picking a pack of colorful markers she was drawing with from the ground and shoving all items in the bag she brought them in. Two fairies hurried towards Elline’s house, flying by beautiful flowers colored hills and trees, with at least half of these flowers having once being colored by spectrum fairies themselves.

From the moment she can see the cherry tree with her house on it, Elline starts to mentally prepare herself for the talk that is going to happen. Her cheeks heat up slightly at merely a thought about Crafter throwing a scene right before Iridia, she hopes with all her heart that this isn't going to happen. Please, let him just take it calmly... Unavoidably, two fairies are approaching the house. For a moment right before the entrance door Elline lets her fear take over and turns back, willing to fly away from this situation, only to be stopped by Iridia and told once again that everything is going to turn out allright. At last, the moment comes and she pushes the door open without knocking.

But nobody was home.

At first, Elline decided that for a change, Crafter decided to use the house’s second floor that was meant for him and checked in there. But no, it was quiet and forsaken. To her slight guilt, Elline finds herself a little at ease knowing this. She worries about where he might have left, of course, but also… isn’t it kind of good – to come back home and _not_ have to explain to the precise detail where she had been today and what taken her so long? Oh yes, it is.

“Looks like the talk will have to wait, hehe…” Iridia concludes, having followed Elline up on the second floor. “If you forgive my insolence, I will go and check what’s in the fridge! Will be back in a bitty!”

With that she disappears, leaving Elline, probably purposefully, in privacy. Elline’s hand traces the edge of the small table that is covered in thin layer of dust from not being used and looks around the room some more. She’d put some fantasy in decorating it for Crafter – it manages to combine both dark and variegated color schemes. The walls would imitate palette of the sky – from bright orange dawn color at the entrance to dark blue at the opposite end. The ceiling was even darker shade of blue, with a multitude of stars drawn with fluorescent dye on it. It should have been a beautiful sight at nights. Elline wanted to emphasize a ‘cosmic’ theme about her friend in pretty much everything here; even the starry blanket and pillow on the bed mimic the ceiling. Then there were shelves with his very own drawing supplies. Well, technically, they were hers, but she was happy to share.

Elline drops on the bed, deep in the thoughts. She believes she can point out when something went really wrong – when she colored him bright. A bad mistake, really. Two more weeks later – and Crafter is so addicted to the magical paint that he would guilt Elline for being away long enough for it to wash out on him! One day, he’d even wake her up in the middle of the night for it. Not for sharing about a nightmare he had, not for offering a fun midnight adventure – no, for coloring him ‘just one more time’!

The Fairy’s eyes stare into the wall with tension as she tries to put herself in Crafter’s place. He claimed to feel empty, to feel permanently pained when the color would get absorbed into his own blackness again. How would she feel if her well-being relied on something within her reach, but something that only someone close to her could do?

No, something doesn’t line up. She would still never turn a friendship into such… such… a _mess_? Is this a good word to describe what was happening between them? A mess? She bitterly recalls how when she shared about wanting to become friends with a mysterious woman who could create fascinating shapes from thin air, he became insecure, as though she declared she wanted to leave him forever. Then, she hugs a pillow and cried out a muffled, desperate sound into it. She just doesn’t understand. Who could understand those Dark Matters!

Wait… This is it. _Someone_ could.

“Iridia, we should go!” Elline exclaims when she is down the stairs she never needed as a flying creature.

Iridia meanwhile had made herself almost comfortable, munching a sandwich and painting in one of the coloring books Elline had. “I thought we were going to wait until your friend comes back?”

“Pixelline must know about Dark Matters more than I do.” Elline eyerolls. “I didn’t really listen to her when she was trying to warn me, but maybe she can give us some hints! Maybe she knows Dark Matters’ psychology too!”

“Well… She sounded confident enough talking about it back then. This is a good-good idea~!” Iridia cheers up, but then gets concerned. “Uh… You promised to let Pixelline and Starsplash know _once_ something bad happens with Dark Matter… Won’t Pixelline be angry about you not having told sooner?”

“I guess I will have to roll with it.” Great, now she is concerned about it as well. But the prospect of getting help with her friend overpowers some small mouthful she can get.

The friends leave the house as soon as Iridia finishes her sandwich, joking on their way about having to face Pixelline’s wrath to wear off some fear a little bit. The way to Pixelline’s house isn’t as long as the one from the big pinetree to Elline’s place, yet for some reason it seems to take them longer than that one. The sun of this planet, the Great Paper Lantern, heads closer to the horizon, signalizing evening draws near.

Pixelline’s house is located amid a rather impressive dump of old television and computer screens, chunks of big metal constructions (some of which were told to once be pieces of starships) and gears size of a fairy. This is probably the least bright and colorful place in the Spectrum Village, but Pixelline feels more than comfortable living here. After all, she composed this amazing dump herself after travelling in outer space multiple times.

What instantly catches Elline’s gaze is an open broken metal semi automatic door which twitches rhythmically, constantly trying to close itself. Elline and Iridia look at each other anxiously, then passed through the unsafe entrance one after another. Seeing that objects are somewhat tossed around in the house, Elline leans in closer and grabs Iridia’s hand. Whatever happened here didn’t go well with her at times wild imagination. The two fairies proceed through the corridor in the main room in complete silence.

Then, Elline suddenly discovers that she won’t, in fact, have to face Pixelline’s wrath anymore.

There is a sight to behold, a confusing and disturbing sight. Crafter is here, looming over Pixelline who lays on the floor. And one thing is horribly wrong about her. There is no red in her technicolor hair anymore. The moment she saw it Elline knew exactly what did it mean.

A specter fairy is able to lose one of her colors forever. Say, Elline might lose yellow from her rainbow colored hair, and therefore, lose ability to draw with yellow. This process doesn’t end with some minor creativity outgoings, though. Each color would hold a meaning – personal for each fairy, but some were rather common amongst them. Say, Elline might lose yellow, and the ability to feel joy with it. So now, that there is a gray in the place where Pixelline’s red color used to be, she lost a part of herself. Which part it could be? Red, color of anger, but also color of energy and passion…

This isn’t what she meant when she said she wanted him to hang out with other fairies too.

“W-what… What did you do?..” Elline questions helplessly. So many thoughts flow into her head once in a rush, making it impossible to stay cool. Her friend Pixelline had lost part of herself. It is irreversible damage. It is _forever_. Amongst her thoughts there is trying to imagine how will she look into Pixelline’s eyes from now on, how will she explain it to others that she let the situation spin out of control, how will she _not_ blame herself… No, it can’t be happening, why it has to happen?

Dark Crafter calmly drifts away from Pixelline, who is conscious, but just doesn’t care about what is going on all that much anymore. He was already mentally prepared to be found out since the moment he planned this. It hurt him to make the step that would’ve obviously put an end to his friendship with Elline, but he couldn’t take it anymore. At least, this is how it felt in the moment when he decided to commit his crime. Now, under all this layer of blackness, he is permanently granted with his core being crimson red. He can already say it doesn’t wash out that easily.

And still, he didn’t have enough.

“Don’t be silent! Say something!!” Elline cries at him. “How can you be silent in a moment like this!”

Iridia, who is just as shocked, tries to collect herself for the sake of the situation. “I… I hope you understand that actions have consequences. Do you realize that what you did can’t be changed?”

Elline flies towards Pixelline, shaking her lightly. “Pixelline?.. Pixelline, are you… sleeping?” She is confused.

“Yup.” Pixelline responds, calmly. “Don’t worry about me, I am not mad or anything…whatever.”

Elline starts sobbing uncontrollably, seeing the aftermath of someone losing their passion and energy. No, not just someone, Pixelline is her friend. Now what, will she stay as emotional as a rock?

“Are you happy now?!” She snaps at Crafter, wiping away tears only for the new ones to instantly come at their place.

“I… have no choice.” Crafter speaks, finally.

“Yes you have!! When you felt empty inside – you should have turned to caring for someone out there instead, like giving people patbacks during their art block, or baking them muffins! You don’t go and drain them out of color!!”

Anger and shame are getting overwhelming, Elline is breathing heavily, nearing a tantrum state.

“Elline, I am a Dark Matter. Isn’t it sort of our job to ruin things?”

“…Well, uh?! Only if you tell this to yourself!” She gets up, flying closer with her hands balled into fists. Although Crafter shouldn’t be afraid of the little fairy, but he starts backing off respectively. “You had every chance to learn! Why you never was listening to me?! You never needed colors! All you needed was a little empathy!”

He vaguely remembers what Elline told him about ‘empathy’. This would be the ability to understand another person’s feelings…

“Empathy never worked, nor it ever will.” He cuts off. “If I could understand another person’s feelings – would I become happy just because of this? I am trapped in this place, deficient in doing what I am intended to do… And the only time I break free from being so empty is when I absorb colors that contain emotions in them!”

“ _Trapped_ in this place? I thought you had fun with me, doing all these things! I thought… I thought!..”

“Yes, I thought so too…”

Silence. Iridia flies close to Pixelline, asking her about a way to defeat a Dark Matter in a whisper.

“I don’t know what to do…” Elline says. “Pixelline is stuck like this permanently, not being herself anymore, and Starsplash will wipe you away once she finds out… I… I’ve lost two friends within the same day!.. Can you… Can you somehow return the color to her, maybe?” She suddenly feels a bit of a hope returning to her. “H-how did you take it? If you just put it back – maybe we can forgive you and things will be alright again?..” She is not all that sure that anything can be fine between them two anymore, but she just wants to help Pixelline.

Crafter feels a pinch of pain hearing the idea, he doesn’t want to lose the color at all. Maybe he could put it back if he tried, but he doesn’t want to. Elline doesn’t need to know the truth, does she?

“I am sorry but… I can’t. It’s within me now.”

Elline’s hands drop to her sides in dismay. It’s _over_. Completely, undoubtedly _over_. She then covers her face with her hands. Why did she ever give this Dark Matter a warm welcome, why did she never tell anyone about how he got addicted to magic paint? Why, why, why… She keeps asking herself that, the same thought rolling through her mind like a broken record. Regrets overwhelm her, but there is something more. She is still angry at him, and this amount of anger is unfamiliar to her.

Within the same time as Elline and Crafter still talk, Iridia is trying to drag Pixelline, who refuses to fly, in another room. “Come ooooon, you shouldn’t stay here…” Ugh, the weight of another fairy is kind of heavy for her.

“I… I deserve to know something, though! When we were drawing and crafting together – did you really still feel empty?” Elline demands.

“I didn’t realize until magic paint was all over me, but yes, constantly.”

“And when we went in the woods to see fireflies, too?..”

“They were pretty, but yes, still. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken any interest in such simple life forms.”

“Was there any time you was feeling alright NOT thanks to the magic paint?”

While their talk kept going further, Iridia’s struggle with Pixelline’s weight goes unnoticed and they disappeared to another room. This was Pixelline’s workshop of sorts – somewhat empty, with some objects in a dim green room with a large white monitor on it’s wall. Unlike other fairies, Pixelline could not draw on paper or any surface like that. Instead, she was dependent on sensory screens to draw, as she was based off a tablet pen. And this big monitor? Is exactly a screen like that.

“Come on, Pixelline, draw that rainbow sword you mentioned! Hurry!” Iridia encourages the other fairy. By now she already heard about one of the ways to defeat a Dark Matter, but she didn’t know what that sacred weapon looked like.

“Allright, allright, no pressure…” Pixelline yawns, idly getting up from the ground and staring at the screen before her.

Flash! – and she turns into a tablet pen and draws the sword on it. It is not really ‘rainbow’, though – color red is missing, and, as following, color orange does too. This is not that much of a problem though – Iridia is able to fix it just fine by finishing coloring the sword with her own iridescent paint. Not perfect, but should do.

“Thank you, Pixelline… Really, thank you.”

Just as she sighs in relax for a moment, something explodes in the main room. Iridia almost drops the sword she was holding.

“Elline. I am not going to stay here all day and listen to what I ‘could have or should have done’. From the beginning, it didn’t mean anything if what I did was right or wrong, good or bad! Because there is just one outcome. But now, I might become something bigger than just another Dark Matter. I might feel everything I was deprived of!”

“You… You’re attacking me…?” Elline asks, still trying to get over Crafter’s words. Just a few moments ago, Crafter tossed a bomb at her – black and round, with four red glowing points. She saw Pixelline conjuring one like this exactly once, and that whole situation was enough for her to remember it for the rest of her life. Crafter though, now can just make these from thin air, being the copycat he is.

“Yes, I did. I am sorry, but our goals don’t match. To become something bigger, I must do not right or wrong, but what I _can_ do. If you won’t try and stop me though, I promise not to ruin this village.”

Oh, does it hurt. Her anger-filled thoughts escalate, making his intentions clearer for her. “If you think that I will allow you to pick color by color from fairies here until you are full – you are wrong!”

He shouldn’t be surprised, really. He brings his hand up, summoning more of the bombs to his side and preparing to give Elline a nice bullet hell.

KA-BOOM!

At first, he didn’t realize what happened in the explosion. Did he hit Elline? For a brief moment he looks away, seemingly mourning a friend he just lost, but the smoke from the bombs soon enough reveals Elline to be safe and sound – and not her alone! Here now stood Iridia, holding the rainbow sword and glaring at Crafter cautiously.

“Elline, stay behind me.”

“Wait, no…” 

Yes, this is the good ol’ overly kind Elline- 

“…I will do it myself.” 

Okay, maybe not so kind…

Driven with the wish to protect other fairies and to vent the pain of betrayal, Elline retracts the rainbow sword from Iridia’s hands. Iridia feels very reluctant giving it to her, but all in all, she thinks this is fair, besides, she believes in Elline’s skills.

“Ooh!” Elline drifts to the side, unable to hold the heavy sword straight at first, but quickly adjusting. Just got to hold it before herself with both hands. And now, swing it!

Crafter knows this accursed sword, his predictions are very pessimistic. He creates more bombs to defend himself, which scares Elline enough to shut her eyes closed and wave the sword uncontrollably until… until she actually makes it through? The fairy opens her eyes to the sight of every bomb being sliced on two. Hey, that’s not bad at all, right?

Iridia watches, powerless to do anything. She has yet to learn how to draw things into existence without paper – otherwise she would have copied the sword and fought along with her friend. Nor she can draw colorful ropes in the air like Elline and some other fairies – and this skill would’ve came up to be so handy right now, to shield her! All she can do is watch and hope…

Crafter can only hope too, though. He won’t exactly touch Elline with anything if she will just slice his only possible attack with the sword. In despair, he directs the bombs at the ceiling instead, attempting to crush Elline, but she manages to dodge the last moment. The orange color of the sunset burst through the ceiling hole, Elline throws a brief look in it and even sees some stars in the sky. This slip almost costs her being hit with another bomb, but she sure is fast. Pixelline’s house would now take quite a time on being restored, though.

Realizing that she can’t just avoid attacks all the time, Elline braces herself to go into an attack. She closes her eyes again in fear and dashes forward, swinging her sword left and right and not stopping. She only looks again when she feels that she’s hit something, and it appears to be Crafter, but the blade of the sword was turned to it’s flat side, so she actually just slapped him. The two look at each other in slight confusion before Elline backs off and tilts her sword to the sharp side this time.

Now, she needs to hit him for sure, although she is really nervous. She’d never picked a fight before, and this fight is still against someone she knows well. Elline rushes forward, trying not to close her eyes in fear this time, and swings the sword. Crafter doesn’t attack anymore, he just avoids her. She attacks him from the left, from the right, from the left again… He simply doesn’t have a second to conjure any bombs anymore as Elline seems to hit faster and faster with each time.

SLASH!

He feels intense pain.

It just went through his whole body, he could swear it was destroying him on molecular level by impact. She wounded him. There is no blood or anything, of course, there is just pain. This, and also sensing as though there is somehow less of his body now. It’s now that he realizes how actually defenseless he is against her. He needs to escape. He needs to run away-

SLATSCH!

It just happened again. He hasn’t been so weak in a long time, ever since a Sphere Doomer attacked him a month ago. Feels bad enough to remember what it used to be like. It was a hard time for him – hard enough to be ready to get killed by fairies he met just after that. Now, he, maybe, also is ready to get killed… No, no need to think about that. He doesn’t need to think about that, right? He just needs to get out… He starts to retreat, with his face still turned towards Elline.  
However, little fairy is fast enough to catch up with him. She deals several blows at him at once, waving and waving her sword with no stop to it, until one of these blows appeared to finally finish him off.

Elline doesn’t immediately understand what just happened.

In that instant, Crafter just disappears, and she thinks it’s some invisibility trick, or teleportation, or something like that, all prepared to fight him more. But Crafter never reappears, so she can’t say for sure. Then a thought crawls to her. While she was beating the hell out of him with the sword, at some point he just was gone with something like… explosion? What if it meant that it was over? What if she actually defeated him? Little fairy hugs the sword, looking around and feeling the chill crawl on her spine. You know, the chill that should come at realization that she just might have _killed_ someone. Elline slowly hovers down to the floor level, still looking in bewilderment and fear. Her loyal friend Iridia is already here to catch Elline into a hug and congratulate her with, most likely, winning. What happened just happened, right, Dark Matter was no longer a threat to anybody? And well, they avenged poor Pixelline.

But Elline remains deaf to Iridia’s quiet congratulations. She just… struggled to believe what she just did. Memories about past times, about good times of friendship, of her trying to turn him kind, start to awkwardly peek in one by one, releasing her from her shock a bit. Then, bad memories come too – and there was this feeling that if she tried harder she _would_ have, in fact, changed him, respectively.

“Oh no…” Elline whimpers. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no...”

Tears are welling up immediately, helping her to release all emotions she had to put aside for the sake of dealing with this battle. At least, Iridia is here for her, trying to comfort Elline, to tell her that there was no much choice and Crafter took his own decision as well.  
_____________________________________________________  
All the guilt Elline experienced that day never was truly able to leave her alone. Within just a few hours the same day, Elline made a choice to leave the Spectrum Village to try and find the way to return colors to Pixelline. She saw it as the one way to make up for insisting that Dark Matter stayed in their place. Besides, not that she felt comfortable leaving amongst fairies anymore… Only a very few fairies would try and stop her, and, surprisingly, Colorfall was amongst them.

Elline had few ideas about where to go and what to do. She tried to not lose confidence and see it as an opportunity to make many new friends. For example, like that one mysterious lady with blue hair she saw once.

However…

She didn’t exactly finish her business the day she was fighting Dark Matter. She simply could not, as Dark Matter never truly dies, it simply reforms. And Crafter was able to reform just fine, with the power of red color he taken away from Pixelline specifically.

It shouldn’t take him a very long time to find where did Elline go, since Dark Matter is the substance that consists the Universe, at some point. But he wouldn’t just show up out of blue. Instead, he might take someone she knows under possession… Just to be close with her once more.


End file.
